Highs Lows Pride

Getting to the opening of Doubt has been filled with highs lows and pride.

On Tuesday Todd Hatton of WKMS came and recorded parts of the show to air on the Front Page of WKMS today. He did a nice interview and you can hear it on www.wkms.org and click on the Front Page for Friday Nov. 14. Mary Thorsby also came and took photos and interviewed some of the cast for www.ilistpaducah.com .

Trying to promote this show has been difficult. We have no money in the budget to market the show since it is in the Studio Theatre and the seating is very limited. We rely primarily on word of mouth and all the free sources we can get.

I spent most of yesterday, opening night, working on Greetings, the newsletter, postcards, and banners for the mainstage show. At 6:30 pm I walked into the studio theatre to prepare for the show and Alexis asked me where the programs were. I had completely forgotten to create them. I ran back to my office and pulled together all the information and put it into a format to print. Of course the printer decided to not cooperate and I had to export the program to a pdf file and then print it from that. Needless to say it was 7:10 when the programs were run back down the street to the studio theatre. In the mean time Dvonne Miller knocked on the office door while I was creating the program to remind me she need a purse and Jennifer Carder needed a gold band ring to wear as Sister James. I ran to costume storage and of course couldn't find any of what I was looking for. I ran back to the studio and told Dvonne to just go on without the purse. I was the one who told her the night before that she needed it. I took my wedding ring off and gave it to Jennifer to wear making her promise to give it back to me at the end of the performance. Next Wednesday is April and my 25th Wedding Anniversary. Then I made the tea for the tea scene for the show and called places in time to run out front, do a little curtain speech welcoming the audience and then run sound for the production. I was wiped out before the show started. The cast did a great job and the small audience for opening night was very enthusiastic. Many of the shows more humorous moments came through and had the audience laughing and then riveted by the drama which followed.

As I got my ring back at the end of the show I thought back about other shows I've been in. I've literally given an actor the shoes off my feet so that he could perform. (That night I did the curtain speech in the mainstage in my sock feet- no one noticed.) I've given the shirt I was wearing to a different actor at another time who forgot to bring back in his dress shirt and only had a t-shirt. I've even given my socks for one actor who forgot dark socks and wore white socks. Most of the furniture pieces at our home have been onstage in a set at some point. I remember having one actor who was ill and I grabbed a quick costume out of the costume shop to run over and play the part. This was supposed to be a much younger character. I grabbed a men's wig out of the costume shop as well. I now have an emergency costume and wig in my office just in case. (Black shoes, black pants, white shirt) Hmmmm it strikes me that other business people probably couldn't (or wouldn't) say that.

Last night during the performance of Doubt the actors were exploring their characters in new ways. It is always great to see actors discovering new things about their characters during the run of a show. The really good actors are always finding something new. A new way to say a line that makes more sense. A look or an expression here or there.

Story Theatre is out on tour and on Thursday they did 3 shows- one in South Fulton TN and two in Murray, KY. The cast was exhausted. They left Paducah at 7 am on Thursday morning to start the days tour.

I'm trying to work out the details for a murder mystery show for a local High School in early December. We are also looking at dates and shows for another High School for the class fundraiser. We've done it for them twice before.

I'm spending the rest of today printing more programs for Doubt and replacing incandescent lights with fluorescent lights-trying to save the theatre money on utilities.